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The Jade Dragon
The Jade Dragon is an episode from the original series of ThunderCats. Written by William Overgard, it originally aired on September 28, 1989. Summary Mumm-Ra activates the ancient Double Headed Dragon of Doom to destroy the ThunderCats, and Hachiman may be the only one who can stop it. Story With their patience running thin, the Ancient Spirits of Evil command Mumm-Ra to carry out yet another bizarre scheme to destroy the ThunderCats. Their instructions are punctuated with visuals bubbling up from Mumm-Ra’s cauldron, depicting the Double Headed Dragon of Doom, a tiny statue bewitched by an ancient samurai’s disapproving father-in-law to be. The cursed statue came to life and grew to an enormous size before devouring the samurai and shrinking back to its original dimensions. We learn that a young Jaga had rescued the trapped samurai and kept the dragon statue in the casket holding the Treasure of Thundera. Unfortunately, when the Sword of Omens broke the casket, the statue was scattered over New Thundera along with the other artifacts. The Ancient Spirits of Evil order Mumm-Ra to unleash the dragon upon the ThunderCats. Sleeping in his humble abode on his home planet, Hachiman has a terrifying premonitory nightmare of Lion-O being eaten by the Double Headed Dragon of Doom. He rushes to the aid of his friend while riding his mechanical horse, Doji-Kage, but is attacked en-route by Ma-Mutt who has been transformed into a giant bat by Mumm-Ra. Even though Ma-Bat destroys the robotic steed, Hachiman proves to be more than a mouthful and the hound retreats, leaving Hachiman to free-fall onto New Thundera. At an excavation site on New Thundera, the robotic dog Scooper helps Lion-O and Cheetara uncover the Double Headed Dragon of Doom statue. Mumm-Ra seizes this opportunity and from his pyramid, activates the dragon who grows exponentially and promptly swallows the two ThunderCats in one gulp. The dragon then contracts to its inert state, shrinking the two victims in its belly as well. Hachiman arrives at the scene and upon seeing the predicament of his friends, goes after the source of all the trouble, Mumm-Ra. With a little help from the spirits of his ancestors, Hachiman is transported into Mumm-Ra’s pyramid where he defeats the vile villain in a duel and then returns back to New Thundera to free the diminutive Lion-O and Cheetara by bisecting the tiny dragon statue. Things heat up when Mumm-Ra materializes and attacks Hachiman but Lion-O shouts the ThunderCats chant and the Cat signal not only sends Mumm-Ra packing but restores the two ThunderCats to their normal sizes. Characters Vehicles Locations Trivia * The ancient samurai warrior who was attacked by the Double Headed Dragon of Doom is a spitting image of Hachiman, suggesting that he may be Hachiman's ancestor. * We learn in this episode that Hachiman originates from the Planet of the Red Sun. The DC Comic character "Superman's" home planet is Krypton which also orbits a red sun. * The scene showing the Treasure of Thundera being scattered all over New Thundera that the Ancient Spirits show Mumm-Ra is taken from the episode "ThunderCubs - Part IV". * This is the final episode featuring Hachiman. Goofs * In this episode we learn that Hachiman is as old as Mumm-Ra himself and has an assortment of powers including the ability to summon items and teleport between planets, despite previous episodes implying that he was just a strong mortal from the past who had many ancestors before him rather than being immortal. * Hachiman is shown to be a resident of another planet in the same universe and time period as the ThunderCats in this episode, despite that previous episodes indicated that he was summoned from the distant past, and ThunderCats Ho! - Part V implies that he is from both the past and another dimension, and in Hachiman's Honor he was shown to go back to living on Third Earth. Notable Quotes Media This episode was released on the following media: DVD * Season 2 Volume 2 DVD * Season 2 DVD * Seasons 1 & 2 DVD Episode Screenshots The Jade Dragon - 001.jpg The Jade Dragon - 002.jpg The Jade Dragon - 003.jpg The Jade Dragon - 004.jpg The Jade Dragon - 005.jpg The Jade Dragon - 006.jpg The Jade Dragon - 007.jpg The Jade Dragon - 008.jpg The Jade Dragon - 009.jpg The Jade Dragon - 010.jpg The Jade Dragon - 011.jpg The Jade Dragon - 012.jpg External Links *ThunderCats 1985 cartoon series on Wikipedia *ThunderCats on ThunderCats.org Category:Thundercats: 1980s TV episodes Category:ThunderCats episodes written by William Overgard Category:Season 3 (ThunderCats 1980s)